End of Silence
by Kara Tezla
Summary: Sequel to Seven Ways to Break a Racer's Heart. After long last, Tezla reveals something that could vital to defeating the Silencerz. New characters, new plot, old questions. Could defeat spell the end of the world as we know it?
1. Start Again

**THE END OF SILENCE**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Acceleracers or Hot Wheels or anything copyrighted that might have slipped into the story, which includes the chapter titles, which I plan on stealing from the band RED, because they are amazing. (I stole the title, too.)**

**Summary: Three-quel to The Art of Stealing Cars and the final installment in the KT story. Tezla reveals (several) something(s) crucial to the defeat of the Silencerz. All the Kara and Alex, along with the rest of the crew, are back, ready to race and lay a serious beat down on those pesky racers.**

**A/N: Dude, who would have thought I'd be finally posting this!? It's not all completely done, but I hope to have it all at least done by the time I go back to school next week so it won't be a problem to put it up. I feel super horrible for leaving, and I'm not proclaiming to have returned, but I am here temporarily with some good stuff. My writing style has changed a little since I posted Seven Ways, but I definitely hope it's for the better. So, enjoy, and feel free to yell at me, haha.**

**Chapter One: Start Again**

The engine of the gold Mustang GT revved once, reverberating off the surrounding buildings, only to be echoed by the vehicle beside it. A clean, white Dodge Stealth sat there--the windows tinted like a one-way mirror, only showing the image of the city backdrop and not the driver. The outline of a maple leaf traced over the hood and part of the left side in solid black line. Logos bordered the bottom of both sides, proudly broadcasting the driver's allegiances.

The race was a straight shot to the coast. It was easy. There were no tricks and no special skills were needed. The Mustang revved again, edging toward the line that held the two vehicles back and threatening to give a false start.

A teenager, clad in black, stepped into the space between the two eager cars. He declared the traditional "clean" race between the drivers. His wispy brown hair blew around for a moment in the wind, finally coming to a rest in its usual helter-skelter position.

"Both drivers ready?" he asked. A few short strides brought him to the other side of the line and, once there, he turned to face the direction he had come. In reply, both vehicles roared in unison, trembling under the strain of the invisible force that held them in place.

"Are you sure?" the teen teased, a smirk crossing his face. Of course, like the first question, was more of a statement. There was no going back now.

"Alright," he sighed, "go already." He raised his hand, hiking his thumb over his shoulder.

Both vehicles rocketed off the line with a high-pitched scream. The smell of burnt rubber and exhaust filled the air in their absence, and only the quickly-fading tail lights could be seen behind the teen.

Nobody could have predicted how close the race truly was, but it could be imagined. Each driver was one of the best in their respective areas, both having the confidence to make you believe that they could win and both having the skills to do so. It all basically came down to the cars, and the rare chance that something went horribly wrong.

The race was strictly private, done on a whim in a near empty part of the city. There were two witnesses, one per driver. The teenager in black was the representative of the hometown boy in the Mustang, although not completely partial. He was loyal--and would stay loyal--to the hometown driver, but not tied to him in any way. It wasn't his money that was on the line. He knew little of the other driver and his witness, but he held a silent respect for the both of them. There was enough information in the teen's database for him to tell that they weren't just talk, and that went a long way with the teen and his driver. That's why there were here.

A distant squeal of tires told the two standing at the finish that both cars had made it to the docks and were starting their return trip. From the appearance of the headlights as the cars drifted into a 180-degree turn, the Stealth's driver was ahead, but not by much.

The teen blinked, shifting his weight a little uneasily. Most of the races the Mustang's driver was in were never this close, and they never had him behind at the half. Sure, it wasn't his money, but just the thought of losing a good six grand, in cash, made his hands clammy.

The rest of the race seemed to go in slow motion--the headlights of the two cars never seeming to get any closer until they were almost right on top of the finish. The Stealth flew by first, the bumper crossing less than a few inches in front of the Mustang's.

A slightly frustrated look crossed the teen's face as he blinked against the wind the two cars stirred up, knowing little good would come of this in the near future. He gazed across at his fellow witness, making solid eye contact with the other guy. His face was serene, almost emotionless, as he stared back at the teen, as if laying a smack down like this was something he did every day. Maybe it was... the teen didn't know, but whatever the reason was, it made him a little angry. He didn't always show emotion, either, but this was a big race. How could he not?

_Six grand._ The teen held back a shiver of discomfort.

Each vehicle from the race pulled back up to the start, each killing their engine in turn. The Stealth's driver was the first to get out, walking quickly to his friend to share congratulations. The Mustang's driver, however, took his time exiting. He walked over to the other driver and offered a fold of hundreds, a sour look on his face. The driver took them, a cocky smile crossing his features for a second before saying something to the hometown driver. Whatever was said made him flush in anger, and, after what looked like a second of deliberation, he turned and skulked back to get into his car. The teen was already waiting in the passenger's seat.

"Dead man walking," the teen commented as the driver got in.

The driver scowled. "Shut up, Mark."

"I'm serious," Mark Anderson sighed, "Kara is going to _murder_ you when she finds out you lost that much money in one race."

Turning the key in the ignition, the driver sighed. "I know," he said reluctantly. "I just want to repent all my sins before I get home, you know. Silence would be nice. Though, I don't even think God deciding to hit me with a lightning bolt can compare to Kara deciding that I'm not going to have kids later on." He threw a glance upward as he shifted the Mustang into gear. "Dear God... it's me, Alex... I'd just like to say that I'm sorry..."


	2. Intro Canto III

**END OF SILENCE**

**Disclaimer: Same as before.**

**A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed! =] I loves you guys!**

**Chapter Two: Intro (Canto III)**

"You're sorry?!" Kara Tezla exclaimed. "Why did you put that much money out there? He was obviously a good racer."

Alex opened his mouth to protest, but there was really nothing he could say. It was true. Mark had shown him what he knew, he had ignored it, and now he was paying the price.

"Do you want to know why I'm not going to do anything about this?" Kara asked, turning and looking out the open door of the garage.

"Why?" Alex asked quietly.

"Because you're going to have to identify this guy so I can kick his--"

"Kara!" Mark called, flinging open the door that separated the house and the garage. "Your uncle's on the phone—says he wants to talk to you."

Kara sighed, getting up off the couch. She gave her brother a dirty look before turning to go up the stairs. "We'll finish this conversation later."

Once inside, Mark handed her the phone.

"What does he want?" she asked, putting her hand over the phone so her uncle couldn't hear her.

Shrugging, Mark took another bite of a donut he had been eating. "He doesn't like me, remember? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't give me the time of day, much less information meant for you."

It was true. Peter Tezla _didn't_ like Mark. After the whole situation in which Mark decided to blow the mansion's power, he's considered Alex's best friend an "insolent boy who has no right to be around technology," and Mark hadn't proved him wrong yet. Despite the fact that he was a near genius, Mark didn't have a whole lot of common sense.

"Hello?" Kara offered, bringing the phone to her ear.

"Kara, it's your Uncle Peter," said the gruff voice on the other end.

"Hi,"

"There isn't much to say, so I'll just cut to the chase--would you and your brother mind coming back out here to Victor for a visit? I have something very important to show you."

Kara's lips pressed into a thin line. "Let me guess, you can't tell me what this 'important thing' is over the phone?"

"Sorry, but yes," he sighed after a short pause. "But I think you'd rather see this in person than just me telling it to you over the phone. Trust me." There was another pause. "Your brother will be here."

Crap. "Fine, but only because I haven't seen Josh in a few months,"

"I'll be seeing you, then?"

"Yeah," Kara said. She then hung up, not waiting for her uncle to speak again. "I guess we're going to Victor. Pack up," she told Mark, heading back for the door. The line was repeated to her brother from the top of the stairs before she went back into the kitchen to get her car keys.

Mark was still there, sitting on the counter with his donut. "You want me to call Tyce?"

"No," Kara stated, walking past him. "It'll just be us three for now. I'm thinking he's probably overexcited about whatever it is we're going for, so it's just a waste of gas to have us all go out there to come right back."

"What about the Teku?"

"Again, no," she said, taking his donut and ripping off a piece for herself. "We should be back before they even notice we're gone."

Mark frowned as she popped the donut piece in her mouth. "Alright."

After a second, she matched his expression. "What are you waiting for?"

He sighed. "Nothing, I'll be right out."

"That's right,"

Mark squinted after her, his eyes then moving to the remainder of the donut on his plate. "She doesn't appreciate you like I do," he muttered to the pastry. He pouted for a second and then shoved it all in his mouth.

It took the three of them, driving through the night, almost 14 hours to get to Peter Tezla's mansion. They arrived at five in the morning, and spent the rest of that next day sleeping. Kara managed to crawl out of bed in time for dinner that night, but Alex and Mark didn't show until the following morning. As soon as the two boys were up, Kara climbed to the attic to see her uncle.

"Uncle Pete," she said, knocking on the door at the top of the staircase.

"The door's open," Tezla's voice echoed.

Turning the knob, she opened the door slowly. Her uncle sat at his desk, surrounded by the organized chaos of his work and tapping away at the keyboard in front of his computer. The light from the desktop illuminated his face, giving the old man an eerie glow. After a moment, he stopped typing to look over at his niece.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Sure," Kara replied sourly. "Where's Josh?"

"You'll see him where we're going," he said, pressing a few buttons to shut down the computer. The room went dark as Tezla rose and came to the door. His mouth turned down as he met Kara at the door. "I know you think this is a waste of time, but I promise you'll want to see this. I should have let you in on it years ago and I swore I'd never make that mistake again."

Kara let him lead down the stairs to the main level. Mark and Alex were lounging in the den, still wearing what they went to bed in. Thankfully, all of them had clothes here from previous stays, so they didn't have to sleep in the same clothes all the time.

"You could wear a shirt, Alex," Kara mentioned, lightly tapping her brother on the side of the face as she passed.

"I have a nice body! It would be pointless if I didn't show it off," Alex said indignantly.

Kara chuckled. "I'm sure Mark appreciates it."

Mark, who had been half-asleep in one of the deep lounge chairs, groaned. "You know it."

"Uncle Pete's taking us down to... whatever he wanted to show us in the first place. Move it or lose it."

Both sighed in unison.

"And, no, you can't go back and get clothes _now_. We're doing this whether you have a shirt on or not, Al."

"Fine," Alex said, reluctantly getting up from the couch. "Come on Mark."

Mark grunted in response, rising tiredly to follow his friend.

Tezla led them through the kitchen and down into the garage, where they then walked to the back. The area was always considered off-limits because it's where Tezla kept his stuff... and nobody dared to wander back there. Even with Tezla with them it felt taboo. Their trek through the garage finally brought them to a corner that held an extremely large, black door.

After a password, two fingerprint scans, and an iris scan, the door started to rumble open.

"Holy crap, that's amazing!" Alex exclaimed.

Inside... there was nothing. The cement floor faded away in all directions, almost seeming endless. Tezla shook his head, stepping into the inky darkness.

A second later, there was a hum, and lights started coming on.

Or a light.

A giant hologram sprung up in the middle of the room, lighting the sphere-shaped ring of track that ran around it.

"Holy crap, that's amazing!" Alex exclaimed. Then, after a pause, "What is it?"

"This is a reconstruction of the hologram of the Wheel of Power and the track I had when I opened the realms last time. You're the first to see it completed," Tezla proclaimed.

"You're right," Kara admitted, "I wouldn't have believed you." She turned to face her uncle. "Does this mean you're re-opening the realms?"

"Yes, and you could be the first drivers to enter, if you'd like."


	3. Wasting Time

**END OF SILENCE**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1, yo.**

**A/N: Anyway… uh… I've decided to terminate some character's existence in the story. After reading through the previous chapters I had written, I can now see that incorporating every character I had originally planned to would make this both a headache to read and write. Sorry if this upsets anyone—I'm keeping the original AcceleRacer's cast and a few other important friends/gang members. This means that there could be a few loose ends never tied up and/or weird character placement/disappearances. Please let me know if anything really stands out to you and I'll try and fix it the best I can. It's been awhile. Thank you. =]**

**Chapter Three: Wasting Time**

_Three years earlier..._

"I don't understand," 16-year-old Kara was saying. "I'm better than at least half the people here! You know it!" It was less than a month before the original World Race, and barely a year since Luke had died.

"Calm down, Kara," Peter Tezla said, trying to calm his niece. "You're still new at this, you should take it easy. Your father wouldn't approve of you doing this."

"Don't bring my dad into this," she spat back.

"I'm just saying, Kara—I'm not letting any of your brothers do it either. The prize is five million per driver, and I don't want to seem biased."

She scowled. "You wouldn't be biased, I know you! I don't... why can't I drive?"

Tezla sighed. "I'm not saying that you can't drive, because you can, just not here."

"Fine," Kara stood, snatching her keys off the coffee table. "You'll regret this, Uncle Peter."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Yes, and you could be the first drivers to enter, if you'd like."

"Right now?" Alex asked. "I mean, I don't know much about this stuff, but don't we need some way to get our cars in here?"

"We took a shortcut," Tezla pointed out. "There's a path straight out large enough to drive your cars through."

"What about me?" a voice asked from off to the side.

"Josh!" Kara spun around. She recognized her eldest brother's voice at the first syllable that came out of his mouth.

Joshua Tezla was the only blond brother out of the Tezla siblings, and obviously the oldest. He was built, mostly from being in the American armed forces for the few years between Luke's death and a few weeks prior to him standing there. He had stayed away from his uncle and siblings the majority of the time, only coming home for a few days out of the year. After the death of their brother, he swore never to get involved with the gang races that had killed Luke.

At this moment in time, Josh was approaching the four, wiping his hands with a dirty rag. Grease streaked across his right cheek like an extension to his crooked grin. "'Bout time you guys showed," he said. "I've only been here a week."

"Are you racing?" Alex inquired eagerly.

Josh laughed. "Only if you put a shirt on, bro,"

"No problem,"

"When can we get in?" Kara asked her uncle.

"Whenever a realm opens," Tezla replied, "just have your cars ready to go."

The three teenagers exchanged excited looks.

"I'm... going back up to the house," confessed Alex. "It's a little cold down here."

"I think I'll go with you. I'm not cold, but still," Mark said, motioning to himself. "Pajamas, even though they're comfortable, are not suitable for driving a car."

Kara gave him a funny look. "Whatever, Mark,"

Mark gave her a smile and shrugged.

The two boys headed back through the garage the same way they had come, leaving Kara back in the portal room with her brother and uncle. As soon they were out of earshot, Mark frowned at his friend.

"I'm calling our people," he said quietly. "I know I'm not the smartest brownie in the bunch, but Tezla and I have a mutual dislike for each other, and I'd say the feelings are especially strong on my side." Mark looked over at Alex. "No offense to you, of course. The rest of your family is awesome."

"S'okay," Alex said, "I totally agree. Uncle Pete can get out of line sometimes. I think I'd prefer having more racers here, just in case." He paused. "Don't tell Kara, though... she'd be a little P.O.'d at us for going behind her back, and I'm still recovering from losing that money."

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on it. Also," Mark added as they started up the stairs, "these realms aren't known for being safe, you know. I'm not 100% completely sold on going in there at his word."

Alex also agreed on this, but he was pretty sure he could handle himself in a car. The previous racers Tezla had started off with had all perished in their first runs, but none of them had done it together. He knew that this was also the basis for Mark's concern—he was the one who had hacked Tezla's computer. If they couldn't go together, none of them would go. Kara would be with him and Mark on those terms, no matter how bad she wanted to get into the realms.

"I'll get a hold of our people," Mark concluded, "if you can call the Teku. And, on the item of distrust... we're keeping the Atomic Winds out of this one. The Wheeler's are close enough to the Silencerz to make me nervous, and the only reason I'm letting Vert in is because him and Kara are together."

Scrunching his face up, Alex chuckled. "Don't remind me, dude."

"Sorry, but you got it covered?"

"Yeah,"

They opened the door, starting into the kitchen. Mark paused for a second at the counter. "Hey, Al? Do you know if your uncle has any donuts?"

"I'm not sure, but you're welcome to look," Alex sighed. "I have to go get a shirt."

Mark was already in the cupboards. He waved his hand in acknowledgement as his friend kept walking.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Several hours later, Kara was back up in the house, and Mark and Alex had taken over the garage. All that could be seen of Alex was his sneakered feet sticking out from under his golden Mustang GT. It used to be his sister's, but after he trashed his Acura in that canal, he inherited it with little bodily harm. A Subaru Impreza WRX actually fell into her hands shortly after his crash, so she was almost indifferent about giving the Mustang up. While Alex was busy tuning it up to his liking, Mark was working on the Subaru.

Using his laptop, the 19-year-old was making sure the car would be able to handle the 300 mph jump into the Realm portal. As far as he could tell, everything was in excellent condition. It was previously used by one of the Tezla's cousins in Miami, so all the things that usually had to be installed were already there and usable. From what his computer told him, the car was more than capable of obtaining the speed needed, but they wouldn't be sure until it was really tested.

"I'm going to test the speakers," Mark called.

There was a _clink_ from Alex's direction before a muffled "okay" filtered out.

Mark pulled out a cord and hooked up the laptop to the dashboard. After a few key strokes, an intense drum beat filtered out, followed by blaring guitar. It seemed the speakers were in decent condition as well. The teen got out to admire the car.

The front end was black, with white-blue flames licking around the leading tire well and down the bottom. Paper-thin streaks of white cut up the midsection of the car, each one turning the space after it a lighter shade of blue. By the back bumper, the paint was a deep navy, with a black spoiler that sat low on the trunk. He let out a low whistle. Those Thornton's really knew how to pick them.

In his daze, Mark almost missed the sound of the portal buzzer going off. Diving back into the Subaru, he turned the music off. The annoying screech of the buzzer echoed through the garage, along with several loud expletives from Alex and Kara's shouting.

"Is she ready, Mark?" she was saying, taking the steps down two at a time.

"As far as I can tell," he shouted back. It was a mad scramble for him to get all his stuff out of the car before Kara got there.

Laptop—check.

Cord—check.

Headphones—check.

Cell phone—cell phone? Mark's free hand flew to his pocket when his frantic eyes didn't find the small, black device on the grey upholstery. Where was his phone?

"Dude, get in your own car," Kara's voice said.

"Uh," he managed before getting yanked out by the back off his hoodie. The word "Crap," escaped his lips as he watched her get in. The car shuddered as it was stared, then she threw him a small smile as the tires squealed and she peeled out toward the entrance.

Mark ran for his own car—a black Nissan Skyline—and threw his technology on the floor of the passenger's side. Alex's Mustang was already speeding after Kara, and he hadn't even started his car yet.

"Crap!" he shouted. His keys were in the kitchen! This was not his day.

"Need these?" someone asked. Josh Tezla was jogging at him, dangling the teen's keys between two fingers.

Mark nodded. "You're a lifesaver," he noted as the keys were tossed to him.

"I know," Josh replied with a grin.

"Drivers," Tezla's voice announced both through the speaker system in the garage and through the transmitter he had attached to the speakers in the cars. "It seems you are about to enter the Desert Realm. You have one hour... good luck."


End file.
